Mimi Cho - Photo Scholarship

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | 5 photos

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. These men on Inle Lake in Myanmar (formerly Burma) fish day in day out. The 70,000 people of Inle Lake (called Intha) live in four cities bordering the lake, in small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. As a Burmese person living overseas for almost my entire life visiting Burma, and particularly Inle Lake, was a surreal experience. I had no idea a place like this existed, let alone in the land I was born. The novelty of spending a night on Inle Lake will remain a fond memory of discovering my homeland and a reminder of how different life is and can be.

After almost a decade at university studying architecture I am looking for an experience beyond the drawing board and computer screen. Photography is an interest of mine that sparked in high school but was put on the back burner as I decided to focus on one career path. Nevertheless, this spark remained bright and I now realise that photography illuminates every part of my life. Photography accompanies everything I do; from architecture work to capturing moments with friends to reliving precious moments in solitude. With no professional photography training, I see the camera as an extension of my body. It is a separate set of eyes, a voice that sings a silent song and a memory so vivid. It would be a dream-come-true to learn from Mr Jason Edward how one might make the most of this experience in the magic of South Africa.